Thanks for the question... Just double-checked the spring roster (which indicates the class the players will be in the fall) and D.J. Ponder is classified as a redshirt senior. On my 2011 fall roster he is listed as a redshirt junior -- so he does have another season of eligibility according to Tulane.

Thanks for following along today. We are "printing" the positions as Tulane gives them to us. Notice Tulane also lists St. Aug wide receiver Lorenzo Doss as a CB. I have asked Tulane staff members to confirm some of these positions -- but we are respecting Tulane's authority in what position they see these signees at. If Tulane has made any typos, we will let you know. But Tulane spokesman Roger Dunaway is collecting info directly from the coaching staff and putting it out there for us. In other words, I'm not changing the positions, Tulane is. :)

Hey all-- thanks for your thoughts. Tulane's basketball staff cannot comment on prospective players and Coach Ed Conroy declined comment on this situation for that reason. Tulane does have a scholarship to offer. John Derenbecker said he was given the impression that if his son was a fit for Clemson that Clemson would have a scholarship to offer.

Thanks for your comments. I contacted several seniors on the team but not everyone got back to me before the story was turned in and in a story this size, not every comment makes the cut as well. I conducted more than 10 interviews for the story. Our aim was to give the readers a glimpse of that team, the day and the mood. I think we accomplished that.

Thanks for pointing that out. ... Dickson wasn't talking about wins and losses. He was talking about the reduction in staff, the struggles in post-Katrina recruiting, etc. The 2006 team was composed largely of pre-Katrina recruits. All the sports after Katrina took a hit in recruiting. Football is just harder because of the amount of players involved.

Just to clarify, I'm not "stumping" for anyone. Rick Dickson said he wanted to see "progress" and that was the bar he was evaluating Toledo this season with. So, I examined progress, comparing it to previous seasons. In writing this, I can't use your stanards of evaluation or mine for that matter because we aren't hiring or firing Tulane football coaches. I have to use the same measures the University is using -- whether ya'll agree with those measures or not.

I hear ya'll on the display of the story and I'm working with our editors to try to get a little more attention to the feat. I got cleared to do a story for tomorrow's paper -- just talked with Bob Toledo -- so we'll have a little more focus on the big win then.

Hey, thanks for the feedback. Our schedule each game week is Tulane story, Tulane story, opponent story, Tulane-oriented game advance. It's the same for LSU as well. On Fridays, we do stories on the opponent to give the readers an idea of what the home team is playing. It just so happened that the story of Houston this week was the only Louisiana kid on the team, ha ha!

The last time I did an WNBA game was quite a while ago, but they did allow men and women in the locker room. The difference is that the female athletes were completely dressed there -- I think that had more to do with the comfort level of the female athletes -- I think they preferred to come out dressed, but I'm not sure. There isn't the same level of coverage for WNBA teams so most of the interviews are done in press conferences after the games. As for college, I know of no female college locker rooms that allow reporters.
The only time I've seen access in college men's locker rooms was during the NCAA men's basketball tournament. But that was kind like the WNBA -- everyone was fully dressed, so really, like I said, it's a non-issue for college.

Interesting discussion. ... I thought I'd answer the question of why Orleans Darkwa didn't play much in the Ole Miss game. He is the rhino back in the short-yardage/goal line situations -- in other words, the scoring back. He hadn't won the starting tailback job going into that game. The coaches split the running back touches almost in even thirds between Payten Jason, Albert Williams and Orleans. Toledo said he was trying to give everyone a fair shot at the starting job. To me, it seemed like Orleans had already won the job, but the coaching staff wanted to make sure. That's why Orleans didn't play more downs. Albert Williams will still be a key part of the backfield in substitution. Hopefully that helps clear up some confusion on that topic.

As for women in locker rooms, there aren't reporters of any gender in most locker rooms at the college level. We interview athletes in designated interview areas outside of locker rooms for the most part. To me it's a non-issue. If we were covering women's volleyball, I would not expect special access to the their locker room while the male reporters had to wait outside as their deadlines ticked away. It's simply about letting everyone, whatever their gender, to be allowed the same access to do their jobs in a timely way.

Obviously the NFL, MLB and NBA locker rooms are areas where reporters are permitted to interview athletes. I've never had any trouble doing my job at that level either. Everyone involved has always been professional and respectful. Just my experience....

Thanks again for reading all my stories! We addressed many of your concerns in the press conference. Instead of going point-for-point (you might want to contact Toledo with a lot of this stuff), here's some of the major stuff. First, Toledo wanted points out of the possession that went down to the 1 -- he went for it on fourth down last year in a similar situation and missed, coming away with nothing. I think that was a good call, but really you are damned if you do, damned if you don't if you don't get a touchdown out of the possession.

I would advise you to look at a transcript of the press conferences to see how many questions I ask. You will see that you are incorrect your assumptions. But I appreciate your thoughts as always and am very grateful you read everything I write and follow my work so closely.

#20 is Trent Mackey, the middle linebacker. #95 is Justin Adams, a defensive tackle. Mackey led the team with 13 tackles (five solos). Adams accounted for one sack (loss of 16 yards) and 1.5 tackles for loss (-16 yards) as well as seven total tackles and one fumble recovery ... We in the press box noticed some weaknesses and issues on the right side of the offensive line, the line as a whole had trouble picking up all the different blitzes. Apparently SLU showed some bliztes that weren't on any game film from previous years. It made for a long evening on the Tulane offensive line.

#20 is Trent Mackey, the middle linebacker. #95 is Justin Adams, a defensive tackle. Mackey led the team with 13 tackles (five solos). Adams accounted for one sack (loss of 16 yards) and 1.5 tackles for loss (-16 yards) as well as seven total tackles and one fumble recovery ... We in the press box noticed some weaknesses and issues on the right side of the offensive line, the line as a whole had trouble picking up all the different blitzes. Apparently SLU showed some bliztes that weren't on any game film from previous years. It made for a long evening on the Tulane offensive line.